2Sustain

Last month, Verizon, the largest cell phone carrier in the US, released its 2010-2011 corporate sustainability report.  In it, Verizon tackles many issues, including domestic violence, health care, education and the environment—and the results this year are impressive, particularly in the area of energy use reductions.

In the past, Verizon has participated in the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Partners program, which has helped the company identify more energy efficiency opportunities at its stores, corporate headquarters and within its supply chain. In addition, Verizon has made progress on several other sustainability initiatives to further reduce its energy consumption and mitigate the company’s impact on the environment. For instance: (more…)

Several recent studies have shown that corporate sustainability programs are now commonplace at most large, publicly-listed corporations.

However, don’t you sometimes wonder about the credibility of the environmental claims these companies make in their sustainability reports? Are their assertions verifiable?

Unfortunately, new research from Carbon Smart suggests that the answer to that last question is, in most cases, a resounding “no.”

Carbon Smart analyzed the carbon and environmental claims made by the UK’s FTSE350 companies and discovered that: (more…)

Despite  the growing adoption of sustainability programs in certain sectors, many industries lack comprehensive metrics and established best practices to effectively guide these green initiatives.

In the printing industry, for instance, consistency remains a significant problem. Some printing companies have responded aggressively to environmental challenges (more eco-friendly inks, process efficiencies, recycling, etc.). But, others have failed to show a clear commitment to sustainability matters. That’s a problem. First Research estimates that the US commercial printing industry includes some 35,000 companies with more than $100 billion in annual revenue. Obviously, printing has an enormous environmental impact –and sustainability is going to become an increasingly important driver of both competitiveness and profitability.

A new study from the Printing Industry Center at RIT deep dives into these issues with the intention of establishing a baseline for the current state of adoption and implementation of sustainability practices within the printing industry. The research found that: (more…)

Earlier this month, Tim Hortons, Inc. released its first 2010 Sustainability and Responsibility Report, which includes information about the Company’s 2010 performance, compared to the commitments and goals outlined in the company’s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Tim Hortons is the fourth largest publicly-traded restaurant chain in North America based on market capitalization, and the largest in Canada, and the company has outlined several specific goals for the coming years. For instance, Tim Hortons is committed to: (more…)

General Mills has released its 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, which includes news of the company’s progress on health, community and environmental initiatives, as well as a few notable firsts. For instance, with regard to environmental performance, General Mills has:

• established its first-ever packaging metric. The company says that that by 2015, 40 percent of its global product volume will be sold in packaging that has been improved through modifications to packaging weight, recycled content, renewable content or truck loading efficiency made over the previous five years.

• built its first biomass burner at its Fridley, Minnesota facility. This device burns leftover oat hulls to provide 90 percent of the steam used to heat the plant and produce oat flour.

• installed solar panels at its facility in Methuen, Massachusetts, the company’s first US facility to produce its own electricity from solar energy.

• opened the doors on its first LEED-certified buildings – a distribution center in Georgia and an existing office in Minnesota that was upgraded to meet LEED specifications in 2010. (more…)